Nine to Survival
by January Lily
Summary: Tia Miller is a struggling college grad, working a job in the Jurassic World Gift Shop, for which she is overqualified. She finds herself with the opportunity for a promotion at the worst possible time.
1. Chapter 1

The sun was just beginning to break over paradise as a young woman sat outside on the porch swing of her bungalow with her feet up and a mug of coffee in her hand. She watched the streaks of light stream from behind the mountain. Sunrises on Isla Nublar were a breathtaking sight. Same with the sunsets.

Twenty-seven year old, Tia Miller took another sip of hot coffee from her Jurassic World mug before she sighed. This wasn't exactly what she had planned for her life. Sure, living on a beautiful tropical island was a dream come true, something most people dreamed of doing one day. But being a _sales associate_ at the park's gift shop wasn't how she had planned on using her degree in Genetic Biology from MIT.

She had spent some time living at home with her parent, _unemployed_ , but it wasn't a lifestyle she could continue. Having graduated valedictorian of her high school class she felt like a failure and living in her hometown wasn't helping her self-esteem any. The offer to work at Jurassic World was the only _somewhat_ decent off that came her way. Although, she had only gotten the offer because of her connections and not because of her hard work and dedication.

The job in the gift shop was the only thing her brother's best friend could offer her. She was going to have to work her way up the ladder the hard way, but she had her sights set on a job in the lab. Although, working in the lab was the job she told her parents she had landed when it wasn't. Tia knew that lying was wrong, but she was sick of being a disappointment after having lived most of her life as the perfect child. She didn't want to be an embarrassment to them any more than she already was. So it was better that they believed the lie—or at least that's what she told herself.

Tia stood up and stretched, looking at her reflection in the window. Her dark hair was tied back in a high ponytail and her baggy long-sleeved shirt almost covered the jean shorts she was wearing. She scrunched her nose at her reflection before she tiptoed back inside, careful not to wake up her roommate.

She zig-zagged through the maze of clothes on the floor and made her way over to the corner of the room. She didn't really have a bedroom—just a bed and dresser behind a paneled divider. But it was all she really needed. Well, it was actually all she really could afford. Hell, she was lucky enough that her brother's friend was nice enough to let her stay here rent-free so that she could pay back the tens of thousands of dollars she had taken out in loans. Loans that she didn't want to think about because they only made her depressed.

Tia plopped onto her bed and sat cross-legged before she reached for her tablet to catch up on world news. After scrolling for a few minutes, she found nothing worth reading, like usual, so she hit the app to play Candy Crush. She had promised herself that she would stop playing, but at least Candy Crush wasn't as depressing as the outside world.

Footsteps padded across the room. "Tia, you decent?" a voice asked.

She looked up to find the silhouette of her roommate on the other side of the divider. Before she could answer Owen poked his head around the corner and grinned at her. His grin was contagious—a smile that you couldn't help but return. So Tia grinned back at him.

Owen took a few steps closer toward her and folded his arms across his bare chest. He was only wearing athletic shorts and his hair was tousled from having just woken up. Tia looked away from him for a moment out of embarrassment. Instead, she looked out the window beside her bed when Owen commented, "You're up awful early."

"Couldn't sleep anymore," she responded with a shrug. Tia looked back at her Candy Crush game and used the chocolate sprinkle ball to get rid of all the red pieces of candy. "Yes," she celebrated quietly.

Clearly, Owen wasn't buying it. He took a few steps closer. "That wouldn't have anything to do with…"

Tia groaned. Not this conversation _again_. "No."

Owen cocked his head at her with a puppy-dog look on his face. "Hey! You didn't let me finish."

"Because you're trying to come up with a reason for something there isn't a reason for." Tia looked up at Owen who tried to peer at the game she was playing. So, she stuffed her tablet under her pillow before she stood up and walked closer to him. She straightened her shoulders and stood tall at her full height of 5'2'' but she still came a foot shy of Owen. He gave her a funny look before looked up at him with her arms folded across her chest. Tia changed the conversation from her to Owen. "We should probably clean today and by _we_ , I mean _you._ "

"You do realize that this is my place, right? Besides, it's not _that_ bad."

Tia raised an eyebrow at him. "Really? You do realize that I've been tripping over your dirty underwear for a couple days now. I mean, why are your underwear even in the living room?"

A smirk played over Owen's face as his eyes twinkled. "Do you _really_ want to know?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and Tia crinkled her nose in disgust.

"No. Ew. Spare me the horrid details."

"Well, since you asked…" Tia's eyes widened as she tried to jump up and cover his mouth with her hands—not wanting to hear whatever he was about to say. But this time he used _his_ height to his advantage and easily dodged her hand, but he grabbed her wrist with his hand and pinned it behind her back. He then smirked before continuing, "I was eating in my boxers and I spilled ketchup on them. You were at work so, I just slipped 'em off

Tia's mouth hung open for a moment. "Ketchup? Ketchup is the reason? I-I"

"Not what you were expecting?" Owen said with a smirk. He still held her wrist and looked her straight in the eyes.

For a moment she stopped breathing, unsure of how to proceed. The fact that she _liked_ Owen wasn't a complete secret. Well, except maybe to him. But she would rather go to her grave harboring her feelings than tell him how she felt. She was too scared of rejection. So instead, she quickly switched the subject.

"I need to go shower. I work at nine." Tia slipped her wrist from Owen's hand before she walked toward the bathroom to get ready for another riveting day of work at the Jurassic World Gift Shop.

A look of confusion marred Owen's handsome face. "Wait, nine? It's like six something. I know you don't take _that_ long to get ready. You going somewhere?"

Tia shrugged her shoulder. "I'm meeting for breakfast."

"Meeting whom?" he called after her.

Tia stopped walking for a moment and bit her bottom lip in contemplation. How to explain, without giving away too much. She looked at Owen over her shoulder and responded, "Uh—Dom?"

Owen's brow furrowed again. "Dom? Who's Dom?" Tia smirked and didn't say anything as she closed the bathroom door behind her.

After Tia had showered and gotten dressed in a pair of khaki capris, blue Jurassic World Gift Shop polo shirt, and sandals she hopped on the golf cart the park had provided her. She left without even saying goodbye to Owen like it was any other day in the neighborhood. Although, when she looked in the rearview mirror, she could see him waving goodbye to her. There were times when she couldn't help but wonder if he actually wanted to make a move...but she wouldn't let her thoughts dwell there long.

Tia drove down to Main Street to the closest coffee cart where her friend Brandon worked. She ordered a hot chocolate, some calorie-packed barely coffee drink, a cinnamon raisin bagel, and a jelly-filled donut. Then, just as quickly as she had gotten there, she was off on her cart again. She was so distracted that she didn't even notice that Brandon had written his phone number on the coffee drink.

She continued to drive further into the park, in places relatively unknown to most. Hell, she didn't even know if she was supposed to know about this place; but once she had gotten wind of it—she had to check it out. But, then she had been checking this _secret_ place out every day for like the past month.

Tia stopped the golf cart a little off the path, to hide it from anyone who might be suspicious before she continued walking toward the large structure erected seemingly in the middle of nowhere. With the coffee drink in her hand, Tia did a quick dash when the construction workers turned their backs to her. It was a good thing that she had lettered in track in high school because she barely made it to the door when she pulled out a _borrowed_ ID badge and scanned it before the construction workers turned her way again.

Once she was upstairs, she found the room completely covered with glass windows that looked out onto an enclosed forested area. She quietly tiptoed through the room, making sure that there were no big head honchos in the area. Thankfully, the only person on hand was a security guy who fed the creature locked up here. They called the thing the _Indominus Rex_ ; more affectionately known to Tia as Dom—well, at least, since this morning when she made the name up for Owen.

"Oh, it's just you," the security guy said with a yawn.

"Yup, just me," Tia said as she held out the bag with a donut and the sugary coffee drink out. The guy nodded his head and accepted them. He took a sip of his drink as Tia walked closer to the glass. The guard then glanced down at the writing on the cup and furrowed his brow. "Who is Brandon and why does he want me to call him?"

Tia stifled a chuckle and then looked over at the guard with a grin on her face. He motioned for her to keep doing what she was doing, for which she was thankful. This had become their _thing._ She would bring the guy his favorite coffee drink and he would look the other way when she came to observe the so-called dinosaur behind the glass.

She examined the terrain behind the glass, looking for the dinosaur. "Hey, Dom. You gonna come out?" Tia whispered.

The guard shook his head. "I don't get your fondness over this thing," he muttered before he took a bite out of his donut.

Tia shrugged her shoulders. "She's cute…on a terrifyingly, creepy, I'm-going-to-kill-you way."

"If you say so."

Tia took a small notebook out of her pocket and began to write down her observations of the dinosaur. She had already filled up two notebooks already with details here and there. From what she had been told, this wasn't just any old dinosaur. This one had been cooked up in the lab. The very place she hoped to work someday. She wasn't sure why she observed the thing—partially out of sheer awe of the creature, but another part of her hoped that maybe she could provide them with some valuable data that would push her career in the right direction, rather than just the gift shop.

"Ready?" the guy operating the crane asked. Tia responded by nodding her head as she sat cross-legged on the floor, with her notebook and mechanical pencil ready. She watched as the dead carcass was carried out into toward the middle of the encasement.

Now, the waiting game began. Tia started the timer on her watch:

 _1._

 _2._

 _3._

 _4._

 _5._

 _6._

Suddenly, Tia's eyes caught sight of the bushes and trees beginning to move when out of nowhere Dom practically attacked her dinner. 8 seconds. It took her 8 seconds to get her breakfast. A little slow this morning.

Tia watched as she savagely tore into the flesh. She had learned to eat before coming otherwise she lost her appetite, but she was usually better by lunch. But she couldn't help but watch Dom. For some reason, the genetically enhanced dinosaur fascinated her. She could sit there for hours watching the thing, but she probably shouldn't.

The gift shop employee checked her watch and cringed. By the time she actually drove back down to Main Street, she would be cutting things close to getting there on time. She quickly stuffed her notebook back into her pocket and thanked the guard before running back to the golf cart she had hidden in the woods. Back to the old nine to five.


	2. Chapter 2

The golf cart came to a screeching halt in the back of the building. Late. She was late.

Tia had to sit and wait in the woods for a while. A golf cart driving away would've been fairly obvious that something was amiss, so she had to wait until the big-wig went inside and the coast cleared. That took about fifteen minutes because Claire Dearing spent time examining the outside of the building where they were housing Dom.

Tia didn't really like the redhead, whom she considered to have a giant stick up her ass-but that might have had something to do with the fact that Owen had gone out on a date with her and some jealously factored into things. Thankfully, things hadn't ended well for Claire and Owen, but the woman still had that stick shoved up her ass and if she ever caught Tia hanging out with Dom, her life in Isla Nublar would be in jeopardy.

She swiped her card key on the back door to the gift shop before entering the back storeroom. She tried to be as sneaky as possible, but the room was dark and she tripped over one of the inventory boxes. Tia accidentally released a slew of swear words as she struggled to find the light switch. She winced and hoped she didn't reveal herself, but no such luck.

"Late again, Tia," a voice came from the front of the store. That voice belonged to her manager, Beth. Beth poked her head back into the storeroom, giving Tia a slightly disappointed look.

"I'm not late. I'm-" Tia started but then she looked at her wristwatch. "Ok. I'm late. But like five minutes and I wouldn't have been late at all if it wasn't for Claire."

Beth cocked an eyebrow. "You expect me to believe that you were meeting with Claire Dearing?"

"Define _meeting_." Beth gave Tia a quizzical look before she shook her head and turned her attention back to the empty store.

"Just get to work. Next time I'll have to write you up."

"That's what you said last time." Tia punched in using the fingerprint scanner beside a map of the Jurassic World park. She then walked up into the store part of the building to find Beth with a pair of reading glasses on the end of her nose, reading some sort of inventory list.

"Do you want me to write you up?" Beth asked.

"No, of course not."

"Then please start coming on time. I can only vouch so long for you. I like having you here, but you need to be more responsible."

"I've always been the responsible one and look where that's gotten me—the gift shop. I've always done everything that's been expected of me, I've played by the rules, and then life just took a giant shit on me and I'm the one that has to clean up the mess."

"It could always be worse and don't you forget that there are people out there who would kill to have an opportunity like you: getting paid for living in paradise and…"

"I get it. I get it. I think that's my cue to get to work before I can't get you off your soapbox."

Beth smirked. "Works every time."

Tia shook her head and walked over to the shelves. Her first job of the morning was to face the shelves while the store was mostly empty. Facing the shelves meant that she had to put things back in their proper place after being knocked around by the excited children told no by their parents. She found a stuffed pterodactyl in the t-shirts, and don't even get her started on the t-shirts. They were going to take forever to refold because people don't know how to fold things properly and then they just shove them back on the shelf. Sometimes working in retail sucked. She had worked at a grocery store through high school and college, so it seemed like she had never really left the business. At least she had yet to have a little kid pee all over the floor in the gift shop.

The bell chimed and Tia turned her head to see an adorable elderly couple walking inside. She greeted them as she folded t-shirts. They smiled and waved before walking over to the postcard rack. Postcards seemed to be going out of style with email, texts, instant messaging…but it was cute to see them squabble over which one they should send their granddaughter. The man wanted to send the T-Rex, but the woman didn't want to scare their granddaughter and she wanted to send one of the triceratops kiddie rides.

Tia sighed. She wanted that. She wanted someone to bicker over the little things with—someone to grow old with and have grandkids to send postcards to, but there was a plan she had to follow first and getting a better job was first on that list. She wanted to be financially stable before she started any of that white picket fence stuff.

After the older couple decided on a postcard of a brachiosaurus in the valley, several more customers came in and out, but an hour later the store was somewhat dead. Gift shops weren't what they once were, especially with online ordering. They probably sold more items online than they did in store. Another couple hours passed and Tia sat behind the counter on a stool perusing their online orders when she took a look at the clock. It was about that time, she mused. She stood up and stretched before turning to Beth, "I'm going on my lunch break."

"Tell Owen hi for me," Beth smirked over at her. Tia's expression was one of shock, which made Beth chuckle. " _Please_ , it's written all over your face. Anyone with a brain can see it. There's a pool going on how long it'll take the two of you to finally get together."

"He's my brother's best friend. That's all."

"You keep telling yourself that, but if you get together within the next week, I win the pool. So get a move on it, girl."

Tia rolled her eyes before she grabbed her bag and headed to her golf cart. Beth wasn't wrong, she _was_ going to see Owen, but she didn't have to tell her that. Tia wasn't sure whether to be embarrassed or flattered by this pool people had going. But then she also wondered if Owen knew about it. If he did, he didn't breathe a word of it to her. Tia turned the key in the golf cart before backing up and heading toward the Raptor Paddock, where Owen worked.

While Owen was her biggest draw to the Raptor Paddock, she did like watching the raptors as much as she liked watching Dom. She especially liked getting to watch Charlie, Delta, Blue, and Echo interact with each other. Dom didn't have anyone to interact with—which probably made her that much more vicious. Besides, from watching the raptors, Tia had a suspicion that Dom might have some raptor genes, making her quite lethal and even more unpredictable, but it wasn't like Dom would ever had any human contact. But she loved watching Dom—and the raptors. They were just so fascinating and watching Owen work with the raptors was just as fascinating.

When she arrived at the Raptor Paddock, Owen greeted her with a smile and hug before he started rambling on about his babies…his raptor babies. Tia didn't miss the sideways glances of some of the workers, but it didn't seem to faze Owen who just continued to talk. Tia wished she had this much to talk about her job. The only thing she could tell Owen was about the old couple and the postcards—not that educational. Owen told her to wait one second while he checked on something, so she nodded her head and stood, watching inside the paddock at the raptors. Barry, who worked with Owen walked over to where she stood and winked at her. Tia tried to ignore him and focus on watching the raptors instead.

"You distract him," Barry smirked.

"He seems fine to me," Tia stated.

Suddenly, a scream came from inside the paddock. Tia looked up to watch as one of the inexperienced workers, Leon, suddenly went flying to the ground inside the paddock…with the raptors. Tia's eyes widened in horror as the raptors took notice of the poor, innocent human who had entered their domain. She called Owen's name, but he was already running toward the bars keeping the raptors inside. He was going to go inside. _He was going inside_. That seemed like an even worse idea. Tia and Barry tried to call for him to stop, but it was too late as Owen slipped under the bars to get inside.

"Please don't die. Please don't die," Tia muttered under her breath as her hands wrapped around the outside bars of the paddock. She needed him to be safe. He couldn't die before…well, he just couldn't die. Not yet.

There were men about ready to shoot the raptors, but Owen shouted for them to hold their fire. Tia understood why he was doing what he was doing. He didn't want to lose all his research and the hard work he had put into the project—but more than that, Tia knew he had developed an attachment to each of his raptor babies. She watched Owen put himself between the raptors and Leon with her heart practically thumping out of her chest—she didn't even realize that Barry had left her side and was now inside helping Leon who had crawled his way to the outer paddock.

With his hands outstretched toward them, Owen told Blue to stand down. He repeated himself when Blue chomped his teeth and moved slightly toward Owen. Tia whimpered a bit at the sight, but Owen didn't seem to waver. He held his ground, talking to Blue almost as if it were a kid who had back-talked him. Then Delta began to make its move, but Owen noticed and looked it Delta square in the eyes. With both his hands raised, Owen began walking backwards toward the outer paddock.

Owen told Barry to begin to close the gate and Barry questioned him, but Owen told him to just do it. The gate slowly began to close and Owen sprinted toward it, before doing a barrel roll and sliding under the gate just in time before it closed, the raptors on the other side. Tia didn't know how long she had been holding her breath, but she started gasping for air and fanning at her face. Barry and Leon helped Owen to his feet. Owen must have noticed her freaking out because he walked outside toward her.

"Sorry you had to see that," Owen apologized, but Tia then punched him hard in the arm. She then moved to hit him again, but Owen grabbed hold of both her arms so that they were in the air, parallel with her head. She slightly narrowed her eyes at him. "What the hell, Tia?"

"Oh my god, Owen. You could have been killed."

"Or worse…expelled." He gave her a little smirk. Now was not the time to be mocking her Harry Potter obsession.

"Are you freaking kidding me right now?"

"Hey, if I died you'd get the place to yourself and you wouldn't have to worry about my dirty underwear on the floor again." It bothered Tia that he didn't seem to be taking his near death experience too seriously.

"Not funny."

"I'm fine. See?" Owen did a slow 360 before he started doing a little jig. Tia chuckled a bit before she accidentally snorted. In embarrassment, her hands flew over her face. With a smirk on his face, Owen reached over and ruffled her hair. "You worry too much."

"And you don't seem to be worrying enough, so someone has to do it."

"Come here." Owen stood there with his arms stretched open and she cocked an eyebrow at him. "Come here." She pretended to act like _that_ was the last thing she wanted to do; when in reality, she wanted nothing more than to be in his arms. God, she was pathetic—but he wrapped his arms tightly around her before she could berate herself too much.

Tia stood there in his arms, with her arms at her side and his chin resting on top of her head. She then sighed before she wrapped her arms around his midsection. That had been close. She had come too close to losing him. She knew that near-death-situations came with the territory that was this kind of job—a kind of job she wanted, but that still didn't change her emotions of the situation. Owen whispered her name and she looked up at him. Their eyes met and she felt drawn toward him. She wanted him to kiss her. She inched forward and Owen seemed to be inching forward too when suddenly he turned his head away and released Tia.

"I—uh—should get back to work," Owen said backing away as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"Yeah, me too." Tia gave Owen a slight smile which he returned with a nod of his head. She watched as Owen walked away from her toward Leon and Barry before she turned around and headed back toward her golf cart and the ol' nine to five.

* * *

 **Author's note: Thanks for all the positive response! It means a lot!**


	3. Chapter 3

The golf cart screeched to a halt near the back door of the gift shop. Tia grabbed the Jurassic World lanyard around her neck and swiped the card at the end in the card reader. The reader beeped and the door unlocked, allowing her entrance into the gift shop. She tried to close the door quietly behind her, but Beth must have been psychic or something because she called, "Girl, you're late...again."

Tia groaned and smacked the back of her head against the door. "I'm sorry. You're gonna write me up now, aren't you?" It really wasn't her fault that she was late. Granted, Owen nearly dying probably didn't qualify for a decent excuse for being late...especially when she had already used almost every excuse in the book.

Beth poked her head around from the front and grinned. "Nah-I'm just messing with you. You're actually two whole minutes early, congratulations. I'm so proud." Beth pretended to wipe a fake tear away from her eye.

"Oh, thank god," Tia breathed a sigh of relief. She rested her hand over her heart, which was still beating rather frantically. Beth shook her head and Tia chuckled to herself. "Those two minutes wouldn't happen to roll over, would they? You know, like phone minutes?"

Beth arched an eyebrow at Tia. "Yeah-uh-no."

Tia sighed. "Didn't think so."

"Now, get your little booty up here. We've got inventory to go through."

Tia nodded her head and walked through the storeroom to the front of the store. There was currently no one in the store. A few people were looking through the window, but no one was inside. "Anything interesting happen while I was gone?"

"Same old, same old," Beth responded. "Although, you got back just in time to clean up the puke in aisle two."

"You're kidding, right?" Tia folded her arms across her chest, hoping that Beth was just messing with her like she had minutes earlier about being late. But no such luck.

Beth shook her head before she pulled a bucket with a rag and rubber gloves in it. She handed it to Tia. "Time to lean, time to clean, right?" A low groan was Tia's response. Beth always saved these sorts of tasks for her. If she wanted to clean up puke, she would have become a teacher or a janitor.

Rather reluctantly, Tia grabbed the bucket from Beth. She groaned as she headed to the restroom to fill the bucket with water. She could see that _aisle two_ had been roped off with caution tape. Tia shook her head and Beth's antics. She stuck the bucket in the sink and turned the water on.

"Lucky for you, I don't have a hot boyfriend, so I'll be taking my lunch here," Beth said leaning against the door to the bathroom.

Tia rolled her eyes and made eye contact with Beth in the mirror. "He's not my boyfriend."

"Honey, you live with him and it's obvious you both have some sort of _thing_ between the two of you. You just gotta DTR."

"DTR?" Tia asked, her brain not comprehending what Beth was saying.

Beth scoffed, "I thought you went to MIT?"

Tia arched an eyebrow. "I did. I learned DTR stands for deep tendon reflex and I don't think that's what you mean."

Beth shook her head. "Yeah...no. Define the relationship. Define the relationship." Hand gestures accompanied her words. Tia rolled her eyes again before she shut the water off and put the yellow rubber gloves on.

"I think I'd rather go clean up the puke," Tia said, faking a smile as she picked up the bucket and walked out of the bathroom.

She had just walked past Beth, when Beth called, "Don't wait too long…"

Tia waved one rubber-gloved hand in the air. "I know, I know...you gotta a bet to win."

"Well, that...or someone else might just swoop in and take him before you get the chance." With that Beth walked into the back storeroom to get her lunch.

Tia crawled through the caution tape before she got down on her hands and knees to clean up the vomit. One look at it and Tia herself wanted to puke. She put her hand over her mouth and looked away. She wished she had a nose plug. So, she braced herself, breathed through her mouth, and set to work.

When she was finished cleaning, she dumped the bucket's contents in the toilet when the bell chimed that someone had entered. Tia heard Beth greet whoever it was, so she continued cleaning up the mess in the bathroom. Then Beth called for her. "One second," Tia called back as she gave the bucket a final rinse. Although, she turned the water on too fast which caused water to splash on her face and shirt. She quickly turned the water off and examined herself in the mirror. That would be her luck. Beth called for her again.

So, Tia wiped her hands on her shorts and walked out into the store. "Beth? What is it?" Tia asked. Beth gave her a funny expression before she pointed toward a professionally dressed woman with her back toward them. The woman had long black hair and had a slender figure. Tia knew the woman to be Zara Young, Claire Dearing's assistant-a job Tia had been up for as well. Clearly, Tia hadn't gotten the job.

Tia cleared her throat and approached Zara. "Hey, you wanted to see me?"

Zara looked over her shoulder at two boys, before she turned toward Tia. She gave Tia a fake smile as she adjusted the sunglasses on the top of her head. "Tia, lovely to see you again."

Tia folded her arms across her chest and shifted her stance. "You came here to see me. Why?"

"Why don't we have this discussion outside." Zara grabbed Tia by the arm, but she quickly released it when her phone began to buzz. Zara took the call and held a single finger up toward Tia. "Hey, love…"

While Zara chatted, Tia turned back toward Beth and rolled her eyes. Beth tried to keep from laughing. Tia turned to see the two boys again. The younger one was playing with the T-Rex toy, while the older boy just leaned against the wall watching his younger brother. After a few minutes, Zara finally got off the phone. "Now, where were we?" Zara said to Tia. "Oh, that's right, we were just about to have us a little discussion outside."

"Oh-kay," Tia responded, clearly not sure why Zara Young would want to be talking with her. She shrugged her shoulders and called to Beth, "I'll be right outside, I guess." Beth nodded her head and Tia followed Zara outside.

The moment they were outside, Zara flipped her shades over her eyes before she turned toward Tia. "I'll just get right to it. As you can see, I'm busy with a wedding to plan. I don't have time to babysit two boys right now. My caterer is supposed to be calling me any time now."

Tia nodded her head. "Okay. Cool. What does that have to do with me?"

"I thought that'd be obvious. I need _you_ to watch the boys."

"While I'm honored. Really, I am-but I uh-I kinda have a job already. My shift is over at five. Talk to me then." Tia moved to walk back inside, but Zara grabbed hold of her arm. Tia quickly turned around to see Zara digging in her bag.

"I thought this might happen, so I came prepared." Zara pulled a small notepad from her purse. She opened it up and held it out in front of Tia. Tia tried not to act surprised, but she recognized the notepad. It was her. "Does Claire know you've been sneaking around?" Zara asked.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," Tia lied.

Zara snapped her fingers. "Don't play dumb, Tia. I know what you've been doing and this is the proof. But what I do with it is up to you."

Tia groaned and folded her arms across her chest. "What do you want, Zara?"

"I told you. I need you to watch Claire's nephews. Make sure they stay out of trouble while I get a handle on my wedding plans."

"And if I do?"

"Then I don't tell Claire about your _extracurriculars._ If you don't, then this will find its way into her hands and buh-bye Jurassic World."

Tia sighed and shifted her stance. She didn't really seem to have much of a choice. If she ever wanted to someday work her way up the ladder at Jurassic World, Claire Dearing could not know that she was sneaking around the place. But she also had a job that she really needed be there for. "Look, I would-but like I said, I'm scheduled until five."

"I'll take care of Beth."

"Then fine, I'll do it," Tia groaned. She didn't appreciate being blackmailed, but she didn't really seem to have a choice in the matter.

Zara smiled. "Good. Keep your phone on. I'll let you know where to meet back up with me."

"Before you meet back up with Claire?"

"Correct." Zara's phone buzzed. She picked it up and began to text furiously as Tia stood there with an annoyed expression on her face. Zara then dropped her phone back in her bag. "All right, I think the older one is Zane and the younger one is Gary. Have fun."

"Hem. Hem." Tia cleared her throat using her best Professor Umbridge expression. She held out her hand in front of Zara. Tia could tell that Zara rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses, but she dropped the notepad into Tia's hand. "Pleasure doing business with you," Tia retorted sarcastically as she pocketed her notepad before she headed back in the store.

As Zara went to talk to Beth, Tia slowly approached _Zane and Gary_. The younger boy was still playing with the T-Rex in one hand but had added a triceratops in the other hand. The older boy just stood there looking completely bored out of his mind. "Hey, you must be Zane," Tia said extending her hand toward the teenage boy.

"It's Zack," the teenage boy scoffed, staring at Tia's hand like it had some kind of disease.

Tia withdrew her hand and wiped it on her shorts. "Sorry, about that," she apologized. "Zara said you were Zane." Tia then turned toward the younger boy. "I guess you're probably not Gary then, are you?" Her tone was teasing which made the younger boy laugh.

"No! I'm Grey!" the younger boy giggled.

Tia smiled. "Got it. Zack, not Zane and Grey not Gary. I'm Tia, by the way, and it looks like I'm going to be your Jurassic World tour guide."

Zack groaned. "Seriously? Another one?"

"We were supposed to be with Aunt Claire," Grey said with his bottom lip jutted out.

Tia could understand their disappointment, but they all had to deal with the cards they had been dealt. "I'm sure whatever is keeping your Aunt Claire is super important," Tia said sympathetically. "But what I can tell you is that I am _way_ more fun, than Miss Stick Up Her Butt." Tia nodded back toward Zara who was already on her phone.

Grey giggled.

"Just give me a chance, guys," Tia continued. "If you don't have even a little bit of fun with me, I'll treat you to ice cream."

Grey nodded enthusiastically. Tia looked up at Zack. It was obvious that he was trying to look like he didn't care, but he responded, "Yeah, I guess we can do that."

Tia nodded her head and smiled. She chewed her bottom lip for a moment, trying to decide where to take them first. Then it came to her. Boys always seemed to love anything to do with T-Rexes. The fact that Grey was still holding onto the toy T-Rex told her that. Tia pointed toward the toy, "How would you like to go to the T-Rex Kingdom, first?"

"Yeah!" Grey said enthusiastically, jumping up and down from his excitement.

Again, Tia looked up at Zack. He shrugged a shoulder and nodded. Again, he was trying to play it cool, but even Tia could see that he wanted to go to the T-Rex Kingdom. "All right then, follow me," Tia said. And with that Tia walked onto Main Street with the Zack and Grey, completely unaware of how quickly things were about to change.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Hey! It's only been a year, but I finally figured out a bit more of where I'm going with this! Yay! Thanks to everyone who has supported this story, it means a lot! :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

* * *

After visiting the T-Rex exhibit, Tia led Zach and Gray through downtown Jurassic World. It was quite a sight to behold. If Tia was being honest, she didn't explore this part of the part very often. Okay, never. She had never explored this part of the park. She was only downtown to work at the gift shop or grab food and coffee...before going to work. It was kind of cool to be able to see if like she was supposed to: as a tourist.

Gray looked excited about everything. He prattled on about the T-Rex exhibit they had just seen, listing off all the cool facts. Zach on the other hand, looked like a typical teenager, completely bored out of his mind. Tia wanted him to have a good time, especially if her job was somehow in the balance. "So, you're related to Claire?" Tia asked him. He just stared blankly ahead. Tia cleared her throat. "I said, so you're related to Claire?"

He turned toward her. His face didn't light up or anything. He shrugged. "Yeah."

Tia groaned. Getting anything out of him was going to be like pulling teeth, but she was always up for a challenge. To help pay for college, she had done some tutoring. Usually, by the end of the first session, she could get even the coldest of teenagers to warm up to her and she was sure she would win Zach over by the end of the day. The T-Rexes didn't seem to do it for Zach, but surely there was another exhibit that would win him over.

"How are you related?" Tia asked him. Granted, Zara had already told her part of the answer to the question, but she had to start small in order to win him over.

"Aunt."

"On which side?"

"Mom's."

"Awfully fond of the one-word answers, huh?" Tia teased him.

Zach blushed and then shrugged his shoulders. "Not much to say about her. Haven't seen her in like seven years. I don't really know her."

Tia's brow furrowed. Tia couldn't understand not seeing a nephew for that long. Every break she had, Tia always went home and saw her family, including her nephew. Family was always a priority to Tia. How someone could not see their family for seven years was beyond her. Tia had to admit that she was curious to know more. Had there been a family rift? Why hadn't he seen her in seven years? But she decided now probably wasn't the time to ask.

"Well, it's pretty cool that you get to come to Jurassic World, right?"

Zach shrugged his shoulders again. "Yeah, I guess."

"You guess?" Tia scoffed. "What do you mean, you guess?"

"Zach would much rather be home kissing his girlfriend," Gray said turning around, walking backward.

"Shut up, Gray," Zach hissed.

Gray started making kissy noises to annoy his older brother. Tia quickly grabbed him and turned him around before he ran into the elderly gentleman in front of them.

"God, you're so embarrassing sometimes," Zach muttered. He then took off running a little head of them.

Tia winced. Okay, maybe this wasn't going as well as the thought it was going to. She took hold of Gray's hand and they ran to catch up with Zach, who had stopped next to the ice cream cart. Tia smirked. If she couldn't use her wit and charm to win him over, then perhaps she could score a victory with his stomach. "How about we get some ice cream before seeing the Mosasaurus?"

Gray cheered and Zach responded with, "Yeah, I guess that would be cool." Tia exhaled. This kid was really putting up a front, but she had a feeling deep down, he wasn't usually such a difficult kid. There had to be something more going on that she didn't know. But for now, she needed to worry about buying ice cream.

The three of them got in line. Gray prattled off all the ice cream flavors on the board and to her surprise, Zach actually seemed to lighten up. He even pulled his hood from his head. Progress. Tia had just decided on the chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream in a sugar cone when she saw Owen walking toward them.

Tia smiled and waved him over, but he didn't really look pleased. In fact, he looked quite serious, an emotion Tia rarely was on the receiving end of. "We need to talk," Owen said as he approached her.

She pulled her hair behind her ear. "I-uh-I'm hanging out with Zach and Gray, here." Gray smiled up at Owen. Zach gave a wave. Tia flashed him her best smile as she placed a hand on one of each of the boys' shoulders.

"Is he your boyfriend?" Gray asked.

For a moment, Tia understood Zach's pain, but she responded with slight hesitation. "Owen and I are...just friends." Owen nodded his head.

Gray looked up at Tia quizzically. "Really?"

"Yes, really." Tia then looked at Owen. "As you can see, kinda busy."

Owen pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and took out a twenty dollar bill and handed it to Zach. "Tia and I are going to talk at that tree." Owen pointed to the decorative tree a few yards away. "Get your ice cream and go to that table there." He then pointed to the table closest to the tree. "Got it?"

Zach blinked his eyes a few times before he nodded his head. Just like that? Owen had won Zach over just like that? Tia groaned as Owen patted Zach on his other shoulder. "Good man. Good man. You can keep the change," Owen told him and Zach nodded his head once again.

"You. With me," Owen told Tia before he put his hand on the small of her back and guided her away.

"Oh-kay," Tia slowly retorted. If she was being honest, she leaned back against his hand. She liked the feel of it there, but Owen thought she was trying to fight him, so he pressed a little harder. Tia tried hard not to smile. God, she was terrible. She was supposed to be babysitting and here she was trying to flirt with Owen.

They came to a stop at the tree. "What's this about?" Tia asked with her hands on her hips.

Owen arched an eyebrow before he pulled a small notepad out of his vest pocket. "This."

Tia instantly recognized it at hers. Her eyes widened for a moment before she tried to play it cool. "What about it?"

His expression hardened. "Don't play games with me, Tia. Yeah, I know about these. I went to put your socks away a couple weeks ago and found this. At first, I thought this was just some geneticist mumbo-jumbo."

"I'm sensing a but…"

"Yeah, a big but." Tia giggled. She couldn't help it. Owen licked his lips and bit down on his bottom lip. It was obvious he was trying hard not to laugh at what he had just said. After a few seconds, Owen managed to get ahold of himself. "Claire Dearing paid me a visit today."

Tia's nose crinkled. She knew that Owen and Claire had a complicated history and she couldn't help but feel slightly jealous. While things hadn't worked out between the two of them, Tia was jealous that Owen had at least considered giving Claire the time of day. To her knowledge, he had never done that with her. Sure, they flirted...heavily, but Tia was convinced that Owen only saw her as his best friend's little sister, something she was working on changing.

Tia blew a tendril of hair from her face. "I don't see what the problem is, Owen."

"The problem is...why didn't you tell me?" Owen folded his arms across his chest. He then gave a fake smile and waved. Tia turned around to see Zach and Gray sitting down at the table Owen had designated for them before she turned back around. "Why didn't you tell me about _this_? You had to have known how dangerous this thing was, especially being raised alone and in captivity. So tell me why."

Tia folded her arms across her chest. "Because _I_ wasn't supposed to know about it. Besides, it's not like we tell each other everything anyway." If he was going to pick a fight, then she could too. Sometimes, Owen got her blood boiling and got her all riled up.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what's that supposed to mean?" Owen's eyes met hers. He was clearly confused by where she was going with this, but she wasn't to be thwarted.

"We're not dating, Owen. I don't have to tell you everything." Tia licked her lips and stood a little taller, despite Owen still towering over her. She regretted saying those words because they clearly had steered the conversation in an awkward direction. But she was in too deep now to back down.

Owen rubbed his face in confusion. "Where the hell is this coming from?"

"We're just roommates, Owen. I am under no obligation to include you in all my decisions or everything I do. I just pay the rent..."

"Which you don't actually do!"

"Fine. I don't pay rent. Is that what you want, Owen? You want me to pay the rent?"

"Now we're arguing about rent?"

"Apparently, you brought it up."

"No, you brought it up."

"Well, then what the hell do you want, Owen? Pay the rent? Don't pay the damn rent? What do you want from me?"

He took a step closer to her, trying to intimidate her, but that backfired. Their bodies were mere inches apart, as Owen looked down at her, quite literally. Tia could feel the sexual tension between them practically pulsating. She couldn't help but wonder if Owen felt it too. Their eyes locked on each other, both of them breathing rather heavily. "I don't want you to pay rent," Owen sighed. His voice no longer sounded angry as he continued to watch her. "I-I just thought you should have told me. I-I thought we were closer than that."

"So, did I," Tia whispered.

Owen groaned. "What is it you want Tia? What do you want from me?"

Tia chewed on her bottom lip. She wanted so badly just to reach up and grab his face and pull it down to hers. His face seemed to be slowly inching toward hers. She wanted him to kiss her. She had almost worked up the courage to tell him so, when Gray called, "Can we go see the Mosasaurus?"

And the moment was broken. Tia quickly backed away and tucked her hair behind her ear. "I-I should take them to see the Mosasaurus."

"Yeah," Owen said shoving his hands in his pockets. Tia turned to go when Owen caught her arm. She hoped he was going to kiss her, but instead he just said, "I don't want you going to see this dinosaur again. Not until I know more about it. I-I just don't want you getting hurt."

Tia's brow furrowed. "You don't?"

"No." Owen was silent for a moment before he quickly added. "Because your brother would kill me if I let anything happen to you."

"Oh, yeah, right," Tia said nodding her head. "Well, I-uh, I won't go anywhere near it while I'm on babysitting duty, so you really have nothing to worry about."

Owen cleared his throat. "Yeah, right."

"I'll-uhh-see you later, I guess."

"Yup," Owen responded, popping the p.

Tia quickly walked away, back to Zach and Gray, who were both still eating their ice cream. She sat down at the table with her back to Owen, but she couldn't help but turn around to see him watching her.

"Are you sure you're not dating him?" Gray asked.

"I'm sure. I'm not dating Owen," Tia said. Gray didn't seem convinced by her answer.

"But you want to," Zach added before taking a lick of his ice cream. "It's pretty obvious you're into him."

Tia arched an eyebrow at him. "Now who's being an annoying twerp, Twerp?"

Zach chuckled. "Fine, then I won't tell you that he's into you too." He took another lick of his ice cream.

Tia chuckled and shook her head. "Oh-kay, first of all, you just did."

Zach folded his arms across his chest. "Maybe I did that on purpose. You ever think of that?"

Tia rolled her eyes. "And second of all, I don't want to talk about this. Let's go see those Mosasaurus. Chomp. Chomp." She made biting motions with her hands, which made Gray start to giggle.

"Chomp. Chomp," he repeated with a raucous laughter.

Zach arched an eyebrow. "Changing the subject isn't going suddenly make me forget your love life."

Tia groaned and Zach smirked. "Maybe I should see about feeding you to the Mosasaurus."

"But then you'd get fired," Zach tried to argue.

"Totally worth it," Tia shot back She hadn't meant to be so sarcastic with him, she barely knew him for goodness sake, but Zach seemed to like that. He laughed. "You know I actually didn't mean that, right?"

Zach laughed again. "Yeah."

Good. She'd take what she could get right now. It was just a weird-ass day that was about to get a whole lot weirder.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Sorry it's been awhile. Since I last updated, I accepted a teaching job 2,000 miles away from where I had been living. I moved and am now teaching at a different school. So much happier though. Last year was really rough. So, here's to things continuing to go better!**

 **Not my best chapter, but I really wanted Tia and Owen to see each other one more time before the ball really started rolling.**

 **Thank you to everyone who read/reviewed/followed/favorited. It honestly brought a bright spot to some horrible days. I'd like to give a special shoutout to those who reviewed the last chapter:** **monkeybaby** **,** **Slow Dancing in the Snow** **,** **allybz** **,** **Cerulean Musings** **,** **nevershout** **,** **siriussblackx** **,** **T K Roses** **,** **KeepCalmLoveMultipleFandoms** **,** **darknesswithin6277** **,** **corahaale** **,** **WriteToEscapeReality1309** **:)**

 **Also, if you're on Tumblr and you like reading stories with OCs, you should check out ocappreciation. I'm an admin there and we have a lot of stories you might not know about. Or if you write your own OC stories, we can help promote them there too! :)**

 **Much love,**

 **Cassandra (a.k.a. January Lily)**


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